Somalia's Mama Hawa Creates Safe Haven for 90,000

Charity workers stopped coming to the country years ago because it's so dire and so deadly. The Horn of Africa nation has been at war for two decades; the U.N.-backed government controls only a few blocks in the capital of Mogadishu. Residents often fall victim to clashes between troops and insurgents.

And yet daily, frightened families make a daring pilgrimage from their rural villages around Mogadishu -- past savage warlords and chains of armed gangs -- to Abdi's nameless community hoping to find peace and an oasis cocooned from chaos.

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Abdi, 64, is the mayor, caregiver, teacher and landowner of this city 15 miles from Mogadishu.

The town has grown significantly from the private women's clinic Abdi first opened in 1983. She is now called "Mama Hawa."

"Our camp is big," she said. "It is peaceful for 20 years. We ... never get any disturbance."

That is astounding for a community of 90,000 refugees -- enough to fill more than two Major League Baseball stadiums -- living in huts made of plastic sheeting and sticks. Each family that arrives gets a little plot of land and a tent.

At the city's hospital, hundreds of mothers and their children wait patiently to be seen by just a handful of doctors.

The school houses nearly 900 children dressed in clean, crisp uniforms. They are a sea of blue and white.

While all of this is free -- the community is funded by donations -- there are rules at Mama Hawa's safe haven. No man may hit his wife and each person must earn his keep.